This is an easier way for developers to embed 360° images or videos into their existing websites and apps across Android, iOS and the web.
Whether you are a web developer looking to build a more immersive real estate app or a travel blogger seeking a fresh way for readers to experience your latest adventure, Google is helping take the legwork out of publishing 360° content created for the web with the introduction of VR View.
VR Views take 360° VR images or videos and let users interact with the content on their phone, with a Cardboard viewer, or on their desktop computer. On the web, embedding a VR view is as simple as adding an iframe on your site and Google is open-sourcing the HTML and JavaScript for web developers on github, so you can self-host and modify it to match your needs.
Below is an example of how the user may interact with the content on their mobile phone. Tilt the phone to look all around the 360° content or click the Cardboard button and slip your phone into your Cardboard viewer for a VR experience.
For you developers out there creating native apps, Google also announced that starting today, there is a native Cardboard SDK for iOS. This will allow you to embed a VR View by grabbing the latest Cardboard SDK for Android or iOS by adding a few lines of code. The native Cardbaoard SDK for iOS is provided in idiomatic Objective C, and packaged as a single, easy-to-use CocoaPod. This new SDK includes all of the features developers are familiar with from the already available Cardboard SDK for Android.
Google’s hope with embeddable VR Views is to make it easy to share your story and build immersive and engaging visual experiences that your readers will love. But don’t be surprised when publishers begin experimenting with VR view to create immersive 360° banner ads, we promise we’ll keep it to a minimum.
